Blood Red
by bjxmas
Summary: Alpha Vamp controls his family with an iron fist. He doesn't take kindly to those who deny their nature or use family recipes to escape their destiny. He's a powerful leader and he's coming for two who evaded him: Benny…and Dean! S6 & S8 references & reimaginings.
1. Prologue

" _There is a destiny that makes us brothers. None goes his way alone. All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own."_ \- Edwin Markham

Blood Red

Prologue -

' _Family don't end with blood.'_

Interesting…insightful.

 _True…_

It's where my family begins.

A connection forged in an exchange of blood.

The blood pumping within their veins drawing me to my children.

Just as my blood calls to them.

Joining us for all eternity.

Forever bound…

 _Father…and son._

A decision is made, whether to simply feed, to kill and leave behind a drained corpse, or to welcome a new child into the fold.

There's power in that moment.

Power in determining their fate.

Power bestowed upon a select few, fortunate to be reborn into the superior race.

Dean Winchester was chosen.

Strong, virile… _desired._

Beauty and substance like his must be preserved…

Nurtured… _celebrated._

Despite his decision to reject the gift.

He's a hunter, a worthy foe.

A mighty conquest…

 _Mine…_

Now and forever.

My boy showed remarkable restraint and cunning, escaping that truth for a moment.

For that rare sliver of time in the span of all eternity.

But he can't run forever, denying his hunger.

Evading his true destiny.

Rejecting what he is meant to be.

This stops now.

There is no escape.

No refuge.

His time for freedom ends tonight.

TBC

bjxmas

May 2013

All standard disclaimers apply.

 _How's that for a teaser? Don't you think it's about time we get Alpha Vamp, Benny and Dean all together in a little family reunion? Well I do and I've been waiting to see those three amazing actors share some screen time._

 _That's the beauty of fanfics; I get to make it happen! Especially since Supernatural chose to bring Alpha Vamp back and then…I'm frustrated in how it ended, because there was so much potential in telling a different story…this story…now mine alone. (Evil laugh!)_

 _Full disclosure, as you can see, this story was started almost 4 years ago…Wow, how time flies! I'm unavailable to work on it for the next month, but then I will be posting the chapters I do have completed and will earnestly work on finishing up the rest._

 _Thanks for stopping by…reviews and comments are most welcome and encouraging._

 _B.J._


	2. A Friend in Need

" _There is a destiny that makes us brothers. None goes his way alone. All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own."_ \- Edwin Markham

Blood Red

Chapter Two - A Friend in Need

"Dean?" The voice on the other end of the phone was rough, barely hanging on and yet hesitant, unaccustomed to asking for help and yet wanting… _needing_. He lingered, not saying more until another spike of dread roused him and he continued on, fearful but hopeful, allowing his uncertainty to show in his voice. "Hey, buddy…I know you said you couldn't but…"

"Benny?" Dean pulled the phone from his ear, switching it to his other ear as if that would bring his friend closer. "What, man?" He swallowed, hard. His eyes squeezed closed and he remembered, Purgatory and all the times Benny saved him. How they saved each other, each willing to sacrifice their life for a friend, each simultaneously hanging on to the other and pulling them through. They'd survived war together, united in need and then want, a brotherhood forged by the endless brutality and despair inherent in that place. "I'm here, talk."

A dry chuckle reverberated through the line, followed by the clearing of his throat, nerves and unrest evident. "Sorry to bother you."

"Benny," he lashed out, more at himself than the caller. "You're not…look, it's…I…" He bit into his bottom lip, disgust and regret flittering across his face. "I'm sorry, man…I never should have…" He steeled himself to what he knew was right, reaching out, offering help and comfort as he should have in the past. Bracing against the recriminations he heaped upon himself he boldly stated, "What do you need?"

" _You,_ man. I need you." His next words were plaintive, just this side of pleading. "The bastard's in my head."

"Who?" Dean questioned, one brow furrowing down, his jaw fixed, intent upon the answer as he repeated more urgently, "Who's in your head?"

"Father."

Nothing much rattles a hunter who's been in the game so long, who's faced evil on an unfathomable scale and survived, and yet, this drew upon a personal hell. For too many distracted seconds Dean's eyes reflected that horror, staring off to the recent past and reliving how it all played out. Again feeling that forbidden power surging against his own strong beliefs, the unbridled tension of that conflict and how he'd barely escaped, steeling his resolve to what was now coming for his friend. Secret images never before explored or explained flooded his head, followed by that deep voice, so sure and stealthy, rumbling with a menace that had lingered silent for months. All emotion targeting him with possession, wrapping around his insides and pulling on him. "Alpha?" he croaked out.

"Yeah, I guess…" a nervous chuckle, "never did make his acquaintance." Benny tried to make light of the situation, tried to temper his terror with levity and bravado, but it fell short, much like Dean's own pretense of control and defiance had when faced with the same peril. "Never heard it before, but it's there…always there."

Dean might have escaped Benny's fate with the help of an old family recipe, but the imprint stayed, drawn out in night terrors and unexpected moments. Times when he felt talons gripping him, ripping through soft flesh in search of more blood as he struggled to break free. Flashes when he felt shaky and unsure, dragged to thoughts and impulses he found abhorrent, those teeth again sinking in to lay claim. The threat a constant, echoing within a steady drone, locked deep in the dark passages of his head. He'd always managed to avoid looking down that road, denying and fighting that sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He never told Sam, never told anyone. Never admitted it might be true.

Benny had heard his tales of Alpha in one of those foxhole moments back in Purgatory. One of the nights when it looked like they might not see another dawn. It had opened the door to deeper communication, leading to Benny's own reveal of how he'd come to refuse drinking humans, all on his own, while still cursed to crave the lure of blood. Somehow finding the strength and compulsion to find an alternative source. Dean knew the physical hunger, the call of the blood, pumping loud and fierce beneath thin skin unable to silence that raw need. Knew first hand the control it must have taken to conquer the thirst long term. It was one of the things that most fascinated him about his friend, his strength and determination mirroring his own, along with the fear of falling to that unrelenting hunger.

If it was the Alpha calling, this was bad. After years of conquering her nature, Lenore had fallen victim to Eve's insistent demands, unable to fight the voice in her head. The power these omnipotent beings held over their brethren was staggering. No one could expect Benny to overcome such a compelling mandate on his own, least of all Dean.

"Where you at?" Dean barked out.

"Back in Louisiana. Hoped a taste of home might bolster my resolve."

"Carencro? I thought we agreed…"

Breaking in, justifying his actions as best he could, Benny said, "No…much as I'd like… I know I can't go _home_ again. Can't chance running into Elizabeth. No way I'm putting her in anymore danger."

"Good…then where?"

"Close. Place that feels like home but's big enough I can blend in. Place I can get lost in." His voice conveyed longing as he drifted along, allowing himself a gentle retreat before snapping back to offer more details. "Lafayette, my old stomping grounds. Found me an abandoned warehouse off the Vermilion River on the west side. Used to build boats there. It's quiet, nothin' but the sound of the river…kinda helps to drown out that bastard…much as anything can." Benny paused, remembering, seeking out better times. "Takes me back to the good old days. Maybe…" He sounded wistful, reaching and stretching out for hopeful. "You know…" he distractedly drawled, "When things get straightened around, you and me, we need to do us some fishing." His voice rose in a gentle rhythm, casual… _ordinary_. "You ever been fishin', Dean?"

"Yeah…once."

"Oh, you need to live more, boy!"

It was true. A nice thought, comforting in the fantasy. They both needed time to sit at the edge of a river and simply be, a pole in hand, calm water gently lapping along the bank, nothing but time on the horizon, as the world and all its pressures drifted into the white noise beyond their focus. It was a dream Dean had found peace in before, before the angel started digging through his head, dragging him back to the fight. Shaking off the promise of rest, Dean turned his attention back to his friend and the peril at hand. "I'm three states over but I can be there by tomorrow night." The matter immediately settled with only one course of action acceptable. "You hang tight, you hear me?"

"Dean," relief seeped through his words, "Thank you, brother."

"I owe you. One more day." His tone was forceful, commanding in his willful belief. "You hang on 'til I get there. You hear me?"

"You got it." Benny hesitated, his next words a whisper. "Just you get here, alright?"

"On my way."

xxx

"Dean, you promised you were done with him." Sam was standing in another motel parking lot, a familiar scene playing out before him.

"No, I didn't. _You_ gave that ultimatum." Dean tensed, the conflict as strong now as when he'd first faced it, abandon one brother for another. _Choose._ Ultimately the job forced his hand, limiting his options, all focus needed on the demon tablet and saving the world yet again. His personal conflict tossed aside as his feelings so often were. Duty, commitment… _sacrifice._ Besides, the truth was there was never a choice. It was always Sam, would _always_ _be_ Sam and yet, to be placed in that position, to be forced to choose made him furious. He'd had so few friends in his life, so few allies he could count on. Those he did have he'd already lost, one after the other. Losing one more hurt, ripping at any comfort he might lean on, leaving him even more isolated.

Sam's face twisted into that of a petulant child, hurt and angry and demanding. "But you said…" He shuddered to a stop when Dean's glare pierced him. He took a breath and remembered, Dean hadn't said much of anything, other than his job was the demon tablet and if they were going to do this, they both had to be all in. His eyes turned to pleading, trying to hang on to what he'd come to expect, wanting to still be first in his brother's eyes. "I thought the tablet came first."

"It does…but…I just need a few days."

"You said _goodbye_."

"Yeah, I did…but things change." His shoulders tensed, a chill running across them before he looked up and addressed his brother. "I coulda lied to you, made up some story, but I'm done with that. We don't need any more lies between us." He threw his gear in the trunk of the Impala, slamming the lid closed and heading for the driver's door. "Sam, look, I'm sorry, but I got to do this."

"Why?" Sam earnestly asked, his brows rising to support the question, all attention fixed on his brother. The brother who was leaving him behind to go off on another insane quest in support of a thing they normally hunted. A creature that the Dean he'd always known before this latest cosmic shift would have most definitely been looking to kill.

"He's my friend."

His bottom lip quivered, hurt and yet defiant as Sam shouted back, "He's a vampire!"

"Yeah." Dean paused, starting to turn away before he froze, his feet morphing into lead weights. This had been stewing for too long, simmering with resentment and fury. He knew that. It wasn't 'Sam' who'd done this to him and yet, that differentiation was difficult to maintain when he felt the sting of disgust Sam lobbed at his friend, another hapless victim, one his own destiny might have mirrored if not for that miraculous Winchester luck. He turned and confronted his brother, his words cold and cruel in their brutal honesty. "And that could have been me."

Deflating from the impact, Sam staggered back, his eyes tearing up in a silent apology, a wounded look spreading rapidly across his face as he stammered to find words. "Dean…god… _Dean_." He stalled, unable to mount a defense, refusing to employ the 'It was soulless Sam, not me' because he'd never retreated to that out, instead demanding he be held accountable for all he'd done in that lost year. It was a reversal for them, Dean finally coming to terms with blaming his brother instead of offering relief.

"Look, Sammy…" Dean now stricken, sick that he'd allowed that ugly truth to slip free, yet unable to deny how he felt. "I know, Sam…it wasn't you, but what happened…" His eyes flickered as his lips twisted, every emotion contorting his face, conveying the war he was fighting. He succumbed to the inevitable and let the words come uncensored. "We can't undo it. When I think of where it might have led without…" he struggled to get the next part out, unwilling to ever be in his grandfather's debt after all that went down after and yet, unable to refute the truth, "…without Samuel's recipe." He changed tactics, steering his brother back to that compassionate champion of freaks everywhere, the guy who used to plead with his big brother to show mercy. "You used to say that it's not what you are, it's what you do. What happened to that? Why can't you give Benny the benefit?"

Nodding in quiet acceptance, Sam simply stood there. Listening as he had refused to do in the past, his hurt and resentment consuming him but silenced, crushed into that internal battle that appeared unwinnable.

"You've _never_ given Benny a chance. Never listened to what I was telling you." Dean pressed on, thankful he had his brother's attention and hoping that the lack of rebuttal meant they were making progress. "He saved my life more times than I can count. I _know_ the guy. I've seen him at his worst and I've seen him come through. I am standing here, in this world, because of him and he needs me." Dean threw open the door and slid into the drivers seat. "It's as simple as that."

All the fight seemed to go out of Sam. The resentment and jealousy shelved as he sucked down a deep breath and reflected on what his big brother had just said. He trusted Dean, always had, always would. In the end, that's all they had… _trust._ In their instincts and in their skill and, most importantly, in each other. Dean survived Purgatory with the help of a vampire. That was irrefutable. He had his brother back in his life because of a fang. Dean was loyal to a fault, but he wasn't stupid or careless or wrong most of the time. No, wrong was normally reserved for Sam and his miscalculations. "Dean." That warranted a turn of his head and the desired attention from his big brother. Sam hesitated, unsure of what to say, unclear on how far he could bend to his brother's will. In the end it all came down to Dean being the last of his family and the desire to not lose that. "Dean…ah, you do what you need to do." He offered his most hopeful smile. "Call me when you get there?"

Dean solemnly returned the smile, a satisfied and slight upturn of his lips indicating the growth of his contentment. He nodded his head in agreement and then started the engine with one last comment. "Let me know if you hear anything from Kev. I won't be long. As soon as I get Benny back on track, you and me are back on Hellgate."

xxx

One Day Later - Evening in Lafayette, Louisiana

It looked like just another abandoned warehouse, another reminder of the decline of industry and the decay of cities across America. Every business that had shuttered its doors impacting the landscape with another vacant hull. The Impala rumbled to a stop, idling for a minute longer as its occupant scoped out the area. Satisfied that no danger lurked in the shadows, Dean cut the engine and stepped out, his heavy boots scraping along the rough surface of the road.

Grabbing what he needed from the trunk, he approached the building around back where the loading dock had been, his flashlight cutting a swath of light through the black skeleton of the abandoned property as he entered. A cool breeze carried the calm of the water inside, fireflies flickering within the huge cavernous shell, each step echoing within the dark, reverberating along the walls to intrude upon the still.

The silence soon turned chilling and for some unknown reason the hairs on the back of his neck stood up in warning, the cold continuing down into his belly, a knot soon forming as anxiety claimed him. He hadn't felt this twitchy since he was a kid on his first hunt, excited and yet apprehensive, unsure what to expect. Dread or something worse niggled his mind, haunting him as a familiar memory whispered broken promises in his ear.

"Benny?" he called out in a hoarse whisper, his voice cutting into the dark. "You here?" No answer came so he continued walking, each step further disturbing the silence, announcing his approach to anyone waiting inside. In the distance a hoot owl echoed his plea with its own call for companionship, earning the same silent response. Dean's hand tightened around his sharpest machete, his eyes scanning the warehouse, searching the shadows that could conceal any danger lying in wait. Outside the gentle sound of the river rolling by cushioned the night, making any peril he might be expecting seem like an overreaction, a child's fear of the unknown. To an untrained eye the scene appeared peaceful, lazy even, like nothing could spur the place to action. It was a setting from an old movie; atmospheric and dated, like time itself had stopped and was in a holding pattern.

It was the perfect place for Benny to take a step back and have a breather. For him to retreat to how it had once been, when he was human, before the bloodlust and voices in his head brought on that disturbing terror. Dean started to relax, just a little, his hand still gripped tight in preparation.

Nothing could have prepared him for what came next, the rumble of laughter that shook him to his core, a sound as deep and dark as every horror previously locked safely away in his traitorous dreams, drawing out that terror as the truth snaked through him, claiming him in a familiar embrace.

 _Alpha…_

TBC

 _I got tired of waiting for Show to bring these three together. About time they hashed out their issues, don't you agree? This was started years ago, worked on sporadically and left to languish. I'm going to start posting in hopes that will spur me on to complete it. I don't normally do that, so no promises on how soon it will be completed._

 _Word that a certain Alpha Vamp was coming back to our Show compelled me to revisit this story. Unfortunately their story was vastly different from mine and I can't help but feel they lost a great opportunity. Rick Worthy certainly deserved a longer run on the show. I hope you enjoy my version of his return!_

 _Thanks for reading and reviewing. Discussion welcome._

 _B.J._


End file.
